Do you have to look where you go? Gaze behaviour during spatial decision making

Jan Wiener, Psychology,
Bournemouth University,
UK

Olivier De Condappa, Psychology,
Bournemouth University,
UK

Christoph Hölscher, Cognitive Sciece,
Freiburg University,
Germany

Abstract

In this paper we present an eye-tracking experiment investigating
the relation of gaze behavior, spatial decision making and route learning
strategies. In the training phase participants were passively transported along a
route consisting of 18 intersections. Each intersection featured two landmarks,
some of which were unique while others were non-unique. In the test phase
participants were presented with static images of the intersections and had to
indicate the direction in which the original route proceeded. We report
systematic gaze bias towards the eventually chosen movement direction.
Furthermore, we demonstrate that by dissociating the decision relevant
information from the location to which a response is directed, these gaze bias
effects can be systematically modulated. The results provide novel insights into
how attentional processes mediate performance in a route memory task and are
related to current theories of visual decision making.